Optimism
by KristieConspiracy
Summary: Maybe Ron isn't as terrible of a father as I've suggested. Featuring a great deal of Ron and Rose's relationship. Four connected one-shots, all based off of TFIOS prompts.
1. Falling

**Challenge: **Sunlight Hurts My Eyes' _The Fault In Our Stars Competition_ on HPFC; Cheeky Slytherin Lass's _Fanfiction Scavenger Hunt Competition _on HPFC

**Characters: **Ron Weasley, Rose Weasley, Hermione Granger/Weasley

**Prompts: **Hazel 1: _I fell in love with you the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once_; 9. A fic between 700 and 900 words using the prompts sentimental, purple and hospital wing.

**Word count: **718

**A/N: **Someone (anonymous. It was a guest, apparently) asked why I always portray Ron as being a bad guy towards Rose. I'd like to apologise for this: in no way do I actually think he'd be such a horrid father, I simply needed a plot drive for the one-shot series I've been working on in relation to Tris's Bookshelf Challenge. That said, I don't like Ron as a character: though I understand his motivations, I've always seen him as quite a one-dimensional character.  
Anyway, to apologise for my actions, here's the first of a series of one-shots - 4, I think - with Ron as a 'nice guy'.

* * *

When Hermione had first announced her second pregnancy, Ron hadn't exactly been sure how to react. He wanted children, at least two, because he'd had a large family and wanted that to become a sort of tradition. When the first pregnancy had ended bloodily and miserably, though, he'd seen Hermione's grief. For months, she had barely spoken to anyone, isolating herself in her depression. Ginny had explained to him that Hermione saw it as the first time she'd failed, though it was not her fault, and that all he could do was stand by her.

So, when she announced that she was two months along in another pregnancy, Ron reluctantly resigned himself to a repeat of that trauma. The sight of a half-formed human was fresh in his mind, the broken cries of his wife even more so.

So he convinced himself to hate the unborn, faultless creature, because if this one was lost too, if it hurt Hermione like the last, then he had to be the strong one, for her sake more so than his.

Regardless of how much he wanted her to have this child, he didn't want the love of his life to be hurt like that, not again. He couldn't see it again. And so, he couldn't afford to be sentimental.

* * *

Four months into the pregnancy - two months after he had been informed. Not that he was counting, of course - Hermione distracted him from the joke shop paperwork he'd been attempting to do for George. She had gasped, confusion evident on her face. After an moment of hesitation, her hand fluttered to her stomach, a wondrous smile on her lips.

"Ron, come here."

Warily, he obliged. If the thing was hurting his Hermione, well...

"Put your hand here," she instructed, guiding him in the action. If she noticed his trembling, she didn't say anything. She rarely ever commented on his nerves, even if they _did_ happen to be extremely obvious.

The television droned in the background, the show Hermione had selected to be the soundtrack to her reading blaring some muggle news. He assumed, since his hand was on her stomach, that she wasn't actually interested in the football victory to her fathers' favourite team.

"What'm I -"

"There!"

He frowned at her, not understanding. Then his gaze drifted downwards, and he swore to himself that he had felt - _could _feel - something moving. "Did -"

"She's kicking!" Hermione beamed. "She's kicking, Ron, isn't that just wonderful?"

Ron said nothing, tuning out the beginnings of one of her famous rants. A slow smile began to work its' way onto his face, and with it, he felt his hold on his hatred begin to fade.

* * *

He decided that he hated hospitals - _even the hospital wing_, he fumed inwardly, irritable.

Hermione could probably come up with a more eloquent way to express the sentiment, but he didn't care. He thought _hate_ was a perfectly good word to explain how he felt about a building with a soundtrack of screaming and crying, and a scent of disinfectant so strong that it made breathing difficult.

Hermione was one of those hundred or so screaming individuals right now. She was clutching his fingers in a grip as strong as that of death, so intent that he suspected his fingers would shatter.

A whimpering, similar to that of a kitten, added to the din, and the grip on his hand wnet slack as Hermione promptly succumbed to the drowsiness caused by the pain-numbing potion. She was sleep deprived, after all, and couldn't be expected to remain alert after such exertion. Even for -

"A baby girl," the healer cooed, bringing a bundle of purple something up to Ron.

"Rose," he corrected automatically, nose crinkled in disgust that almost immediately faded as he peered down at the thing in his arms.

She was tiny and plump, her features minuscule and almost too soft to discern, blending together. The eyes were obvious, though, bright blue like his. And the hair - light red, strawberry blond, really. _Red, later,_ he thought, smiling faintly. Rose became the centre of his world within a heartbeat of his meeting her tiny curious gaze.

Ron Weasley fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.


	2. Rollercoaster

**Challenge: **Sunlight Hurts My Eyes' _The Fault In Our Stars Competition_ on HPFC; Cheeky Slytherin Lass's _Fanfiction Scavenger Hunt Competition_ on HPFC

**Characters: **Ron Weasley, Rose Weasley, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy

**Prompts: **Augustus 1: _I'm on a rollercoaster that only goes up, my friend_; 6. A character you hate.

**Word count: **769

* * *

"I'm on a rollercoaster that only goes up, my friend."

Ron used Hermione's expression to be bitter, not sarcastic - at least not intentionally. Harry's expression told him exactly what he needed to know: that his best mate thought he'd screwed up majorly.

Oh, he wasn't denying it; even Ron wasn't _that_ dense. He knew he'd done something incredibly, incurably stupid the second she'd spoken to him after what he'd told her. There was just something about the Malfoys' that made him unreasonable, especially when it came to his little girl.

Never mind that Rose was eighteen, legally an adult in both the muggle and wizarding worlds of England. She could vote, registered in muggle registries at Hermione's insistence, was old enough to drink - though of course she did so rarely, as Rose would never risk seeming anything but clever - and old enough to live alone.

These were things he was very much aware of when he blew up _yet again_ over Scorpius Malfoy, only days after she had officially graduated. "Rose," he had said to her, "your mother wants you to invite some friends to the dinner party she's arranged for Hugo's birthday, but you can't invite Malfoy."

He'd known the second he said it that he's screwed up big time. He'd even expected her to storm out, take off for a few days, probably stay at that huge manor where he wouldn't go.

He'd never guessed that she'd actually disappear overseas for a year, but that's what Harry said she'd done - having been informed by the ferret himself, who apparently would have told Ron, and had tried to do so. Ron, being who he was, had pulled his wand and forced him to back down.

It certainly shocked him when Hermione's owl returned, but carried no reply. Rose had refused to speak to him in the past, but she'd never extended the silence to her mother. And then even Hugo's letters, sent with anonymous birds from the Hogwarts owlery, had failed to receive more of a response than a scrap of parchment saying not to worry.

"It's time to fix this, mate," Harry informed him, clapping him on the back. "Here's the address."

Ron glanced at the parchment, and then did a double take. "This is Malfoy Manor."

"After that bookshop fiasco, you need everything possible going for you. So Draco's helping out - you're invited to dinner with the Malfoys' in two days. Wear something decent. And be prepared to beg.

"Thanks for this, Malfoy."

The blond wizard snorted, leaning back in his seat. "I'm not doing this for you, Weasley. I'm doing this for Rose. Speaking of..."

As if on cue, Rose stumbled into the room, tripping over her own feet and gasping for air. She wore a grin that made Rons' heart pang. "Mister Malfoy, Narcissa said you - oh."

Already tense in his seat, Ron felt his spine straighten painfully when she looked at him. Hiding a wince, he stared her right in the face, meeting her eyes deliberately. "Rose?"

"What're _you_ doing here?" Her gaze flickered over to Draco a pang of betrayal evident. Malfoy just shrugged.

"I'm sorry, Rosie."

The door opened again behind her before she could snap her retort, and Rons' gaze shifted. He inclined his head slightly towards the younger version of the wizard he had never liked. Rose turned to glance behind her, no doubt preparing to shriek at her friend for setting her up.

"Scorpius," Ron managed, "good evening."

The blond blinked and smiled slightly, nodding back. "And to you, Mister Weasley. I didn't expect you to come."

"I was - _reminded _- that it might be nice to see my daughter without making her hate me more than she does. Not that she doesn't have every right to, but if she decides to never speak to me again, then if I'm decent to you, you might let me know that she's okay."

"That was always a given, even if you did try to hex me," Scorpius informed him, while Draco faked gagging in the background. He's mocking commentary, however, was intterrupted by Rose throwing herself at her father, who yelled in shock, expecting her to pummel him as hermione would. Even though her arms around him were gentle, it took a minute for him to relax and hug her back, confused by the sobbing.

"Oh, dad, you _idiot_," Rose stuttered.

He knew his mistakes weren't forgotten, but for now, they _were_ fogiven. He'd take what he could get, though - and he thought he kind of deserved it. Whatever she decided.


	3. Lasting Love

**Challenge: **Cheeky Slytherin Lass's _Fanfiction Scavenger Hunt Competition_ on HPFC, SunlightHurtsMyEyes' _The Fault In Our Stars Competition_ on HPFC, DobbyRocksSocks' _Harry Potter Chapter Competition_ on HPFC

**Characters:** Ron Weasley, Rose Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Astoria Malfoy, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger

**Prompts: **47. A fic over 1,000 words with the prompts coconut, stone, and irrelevant; Isaac #1 "_Everyone should have true love, and it should last at least as long as your life does_"; The Deathly Hallows Chapter 8: _The__ Wedding: Write about a wedding._

**Word count: **1,168

* * *

_A drop in the ocean  
A change in the weather  
I was praying that you and me might end up together_

**_A Drop in the_**___**Ocean**__ - Ron Pope_

* * *

The wedding had gone brilliantly. The bride looked like a princess, all in white. The groom was all in black, in the traditions of his family. She didn't have a veil, for no reason other than she didn't want one. She did have the family tiara, though, and she looked beautiful. Everyone watching could see that the couple was very much in love.

The 'if you objects' and vows and kiss came and went, with no interruptions except the sobbing of the brides' mother and the soft sighs of her vast array of cousins, aunts and her grandmother. Then the reception.

The couples' first dance was to a song by a muggle singer that their mothers had, shockingly, agreed on. Astoria and Hermione had put their differences aside in order to arrange the ceremony and then the party, and it was going brilliantly. They had selected a summery theme for the wedding, and set it up in the garden surrounding the old stone mansion that was Malfoy Manor.

It was beautiful. When they chose _summer_ as the theme, despite setting the ceremony in late spring, they had created a magically unusual ceremony. There were small quirks, too - for example, the children, those not old enough to drink, had the option of taking non-alcoholic tropical drinks from inside coconuts. While it was entertaining to watch the young witches and wizards prod the 'fluffy brown things', it was also memorable. Not that the Malfoy-Weasley wedding wasn't memorable in its' own right, of course. No one had seen this coming, least of all Ron, who had probably asked for it the day he had stood alongside his family and best friends on Platform 9 and 3/4, and said,

"Don't get _too_ friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood."

Looking back, that had been tempting fate.

_It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert,  
But I'm holding you closer than most 'cause you are my heaven  
You are my heaven._

Ron Pope's _A Drop in the Ocean_ finished, trailing to applause. Scorpius kissed the new Mrs Rose Malfoy on the lips, smiling at her, then looked up as his father shot sparks into the air and cleared his throat, preparing for his little speech.

"When Scorpius first told me his new friend was a muggleborn, I remember wanting to send him a howler, but only relenting du to a desire to defend his family name. So I waited to tell him off, and by then I was over it. If he wanted to befriend her, so be it. Of course, then he told me about the Keeper try-outs, and it occurred to me for the first time that maybe this new girl - this _Rose _- wouldn't be so bad. She's family now. Cheers to you, Rose Malfoy - Weasley - whichever. I'd welcome you to the family, except you already know you're welcome."

Then Astoria gave a speech, something curt about her mostly being happy that her son was happy, and a scarcely veiled threat to hunt Rose down if anything hurt the Malfoy heir, physically _or_ emotionally. The groom shushed the older Mrs Malfoy with a begrudging glare, scolding her outright. She rolled her eyes. "You never would have been this reckless if you hadn't fallen in love with a half-blood, dear."

Laughter rang across the room, and then it died, all eyes going warily towards the person who was next scheduled to speech. It was him who had made this entire affair so tense.

Ron stood up, biting his lip.

"Rosie," he said, then cleared his throat of his hoarse voice. "Rose. I would threaten Scorpius, following Mrs Malfoy's lead - except she did that already and I don't want to be compared to you. Also, I don't want to be gutted by your mother, so no threats. Promise."

Nervous laughter rang out, and Ron relaxed almost imperceptibly. He was used to being laughed at. This he could do.

"Rose Weasley - Malfoy - you're not a little girl any more. It feels like it wasn't long ago at all that you needed my help to deal with bullying idiot muggle neighbours. It was years, though, wasn't it? So much has happened.

"You started Hogwarts, before your brother, obviously, since Hugo's younger. You started with your cousin Albus and got sorted into Ravenclaw. With M - Scorpius. Apparently the two of you were genius' in your own right. Neville said he paired you up in Herbology because he was sick of the constant arguments -"

"Of course I was!" the Professor called from where he sat with his wife, Hannah, and their two sons, coaxing more relaxed laughter. "I thought the end of seventh year would be the end of my life being in danger. I certainly didn't want a repeat of Hermione's war with you in sixth year!"

"Please, he deserved everything," Hermione rolled her eyes, smiling.

"He kind of did," Lavender agreed, earning a surprised glance from Ron. "What? You were a terrible kisser. Even _I_ knew you were only doing it out of desperation. I mean, Hermione got _Krum_, and you hadn't even had a first kiss."

"Well you were -"

"Dad! Speech. Finish today."

The guilty wizard cleared his throat meekly. "Sorry, Rose. Uh. Where was I?"

"Herbology."

"Right. So he was sick of the arguments, he paired you up, and you -"

"Kicked ass!"

"...Yes, Scorpius. Exactly that." He shook his head, amused in spite of himself. "So the other professors followed suit: McGonagall, Sinistra, Torren, Parkinson, Sprout. I don't think Neville realised what he was starting when he did that. I only found this out after your second year, though, and that was when we first fought. You ran off to the Malfoys, to here, with him and his dad helping you get there. I didn't try to stop you. I didn't know how.

"This went on and on whenever you were home: I was a completely horrible person. I deserved what you gave - but that's irrelevant. Er. Okay, so end of seventh year, you graduated, we fought, you went to Malfoy, he paid for you to travel for a year, I didn't see you until a month after you got back. I was a dick. I could see what you two were, even if you didn't admit it. Even Mal - Scorpius. I could see that he was infatuated with you. And I knew you felt the same about him.

"I'm sorry I was unreasonable. I always have been - just ask your uncle Harry, or nanna, or mum, or anyone, if you don't already know. But I see now what everyone else already knew back then, after the war.

"Everyone should have true love, and it should last at least as long as your life does."

The room was completely silent for a time, before Rose finally raised her glass, tears sparkling in her eyes.

"Oh, dad."


End file.
